


Green-Eyed Monster

by RavenclawProngs



Series: Tumbling Through the World [7]
Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Human & Country Names Used (Hetalia), Jealousy, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-25
Updated: 2018-05-25
Packaged: 2019-05-13 15:19:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,309
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14751377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RavenclawProngs/pseuds/RavenclawProngs
Summary: When your boyfriend's relationship status has been "It's complicated", for centuries, with someone else, what can you really do?





	1. Chapter 1

Matthew watched Gilbert and Hungary chatting, the comfortable way she leaned into his side and tilted her head to hear what he was murmuring to her, and tried to stifle his anxiety, feeling a cold knot form in his stomach.  He unconsciously slumped in his seat, trying to pretend nothing was wrong.  As usual, most people were ignoring him anyway, so it wasn't hard to disappear into his notes and reports.  That is, until a folded piece of paper with Gilbert's distinctive Fraktur handwriting materialized under his elbow.

**[What's wrong, _Schatz_?]**

Matthew looked over at Gilbert, who now gave every appearance of paying attention to the current speaker, even though it was America with another harebrained scheme to save the world, with robots this time.  And somehow he'd roped Japan into it as well?  Whatever, he could ask Al about it later and learn more about it than he ever wanted.

_{Nothing's wrong. I'm fine.}_

Gilbert frowned, caught by a memory of Elizaveta saying something similar... and then it all blew up in his face.  He remembered late summer sunlight glinting off the tears she'd deny having shed, could practically hear Roderich's exasperated, disparaging, “Don't you know anything about women?  If she says nothing's wrong, that means there **is** something wrong but you're too stupid to have noticed it and she doesn't want to fight about it right now!

Why would you even think to ask, if everything were fine; just how dense are you!?”

Well, Matt was no woman, but then again, Liz hadn't always known that she was one, so maybe it had nothing to do with gender at all.  In any case, **something** was clearly bothering Matt, and he just as clearly didn't want to talk about it.  Just as well; if it was something that complicated or personal it was probably best said with words rather than scribbled notes.  He'd just need to catch Matt alone later.  Easy enough.

Gilbert debated calling Matt out on his bullshit but ultimately decided against it.  If Matt insisted he was fine and America took notice then there'd be an epic shitstorm.  And the next speaker was Germany, who had absolutely no tolerance for people passing notes, even if it was Prussia.  Maybe especially then.  Once again, Gilbert lamented his inability to instill in Ludwig the “play hard” part of “work hard, play hard.”

He wrote back **[Alright, _Süße_.  Dinner tonight?]** he added, suddenly worried Matt would try to avoid him after the meeting and whatever was upsetting him would only continue to fester.  But he needn't have worried; Matt shot him a blinding smile and sent the note back with

_{Of course!  Just you and I, right?}_

By now, Ludwig had taken the podium, so Gilbert caught Matt's eye and gave him a nod, smiling.  A look of relief flashed across Matthew's face briefly before he smiled back and returned his attention to the front of the room.  Gilbert filed that reaction away and continued to mull over what could be wrong.

As the meeting finally dragged to a close, Matt had nearly forgotten what had concerned him earlier, helped along by Gilbert's own worry and subsequent attentiveness to him.  Then Hungary had to go and ruin his improved mood, grabbing Gilbert's elbow and gesturing toward the door, Austria glowering slightly from over her shoulder.

“Are you joining us for dinner, Gil?”

Gilbert blinked at her in surprise, having been so focused on Matt as to not notice her approach.  He shook his head apologetically.

“Sorry, Liz, but I've got plans already.”

She shrugged.  “Alright, see you later then.”

Matt fought a petty feeling of relief as she left, reminding himself that she was just being nice.

Gilbert dragged out packing up his notes and papers until he and Matt were the only ones left in the room and gently tugged Matthew back when he started heading for the door.

“Are you willing to tell me what upset you earlier?” he asked.

Matt stopped short.  “I told you, I'm fine.”

Gil glared at him, suddenly immensely angry.  **“Bullshit.**   If you were fine, there'd have been nothing to make me ask in the first place.

If you don't want to talk about it, that's one thing, but don't **insult** me by lying about there being nothing wrong!  I don't care if it's not pretty, I just want the truth.  How can I make anything better if I don't even know what's bothering you?”

Matt sighed, slouching back into his seat.  “It's stupid.”

“Not if it's upset you so badly that even **I** notice it,” he insisted, hoping to at least get a smile out of Matthew.  Nope, nothing.  He sighed.  “Tell me?  Please?”

He bit his lip and ducked his chin, looking up through his eyelashes at Gilbert.

“I guess I'm kind of... worried... because of how much history you and Hungary and Austria have.  And I know I don't have a right to even ask you about it, and I'm not!  It's just that it kind of hit me all at once and I'm not over it yet.  I'll work on it, I'm sor--”  Gil's finger stilled his lips.

“Stop.  You have nothing to apologize for.  **I'm** sorry you felt you even needed to worry about this.”  He pulled Matt's hands up from where he was fidgeting with his jacket hem and held them.

“I have no idea about whether you have a 'right' to ask, or not, or what's even appropriate in this situation.”  He looked off to the side uncomfortably.  “Honestly Matt, I'm flying blind here,” he ground out, like the admission had cost him something.  “My history with them is... complicated, and I'm not going to lie, sometimes it was pretty intense.  But a lot of the best parts were... a long time ago.  And even if they weren't, I'm with you.  And I... I... _I-_ _ich_ _habe_ _liebe_ _für_ _dich_ _.”_   He coughed, staring down at their joined hands as if they contained all the answers he'd ever searched for.

“If West's theory about me is wrong, and I'm going to--to fade, or die, or whatever, then that means whatever time I've got left is really important.  So I want to make it special.  I want to spend as much time as I can with you.  Because you make me happy, and I think I can make you happy, and that's really important to me.  I want to make you as happy as I can, for as long as I can.  For as long as you'll let me.”

Matt pulled his hands from Gilbert's grasp and threw himself into the other man's lap.  “You do make me happy.  I'm glad I can make you happy--sorry for doubting you.  I just--I'm not used to letting anyone get as close to me as you have unless it's family.”

Gilbert shrugged.  “Don't worry about it, _Engel._   I doubt I'm doing much better.  I have more experience making relationships fail than getting them to work, after all.  The most functional relationship I've ever had is with Ludwig, so there's quite a few reasons why that's no real help here.”

Matt snorted inelegantly.  “You mean besides him being your brother?”

Gilbert chuckled.  _“_ _Ja_ _,_ that's a big one.  There's also him generally being as emotive as a turnip.  Extreme circumstances notwithstanding.”  He sighed.  “How about this: I try to not be too much of an _arschloch,_ and you let me know when I've failed; you let me know when something's bothering you and I'll do whatever I can to make it better.  I think we can make this work, but not if we don't talk, right?”

“Right.  Well then we should--” but he was interrupted by his own stomach growling.  Face flushing, he finished “--go get that dinner you promised me.”

Gil just laughed.  _“_ _Ja_ _,_ apparently we should.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _Schatz_ ="treasure" or "sweetheart"  
>  _Süße_ ="sweetness"  
>  _Ich habe liebe für dich_ =literally "I have love for you"; it's basically a German way of saying you really care for someone, without having to say "I love you". The **best** way of translating it would be "I really like you. A lot." as it's a step between "I like you" and "I love you" (Yes, this makes Germany's "Ich liebe dich" mean even more. You're welcome.)  
>  _Engel_ ="angel" (this endearment is typically only used for women... or by men in gay relationships.)  
>  _arschloch_ =general all-around insult, literally "asshole"


	2. Meeting Notes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I tried very hard to get this shit to embed within the fic itself. Since that didn't work, but I'd gone to all the trouble of finding the right fonts for them (including doing the research to make sure the writing style I ascribed Gilbert was correct), I'm putting it here. Hopefully it works this time.

 


End file.
